The Black Eyed Peas might have been better off lip-synching as well, or at least working a bit harder with their sound engineers. Sure, they certainly boom-boom-powed a lot into their 12-minute halftime show -- if only they added a little more vocal oomph.

To their credit, will.i.am and the gang did their vocals live, but that decision led to a whole lot of uneven singing and rapping, especially from Fergie, who sounded strong at times and strained at others. Her ill-advised take on Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child o' Mine," complete with Slash's guitar solo, was the most problematic. Usher, who dropped in (literally) to do "OMG," couldn't be heard at all, leading to him essentially being the world's most expensive backup dancer, though he did land an impressive split.

Vocals aside, the Peas did succeed at creating a spectacle with their LED-enhanced outfits and a field full of Tron-styled dancers. They also got all their lyrics right -- at least the ones that were audible.